Groundbreaking at Spaceport America: World's First Purpose-Built Commercial Spaceport

"Sky High Groundbreaking: New Mexico's Spaceport America"
Space.com (June 18, 2009)

"Dignitaries are sharpening their speeches, Shovels are at the ready. Hard hats are being polished. A dirt-shoving grader is undergoing a tune-up...and organizers are cooking up a hush-hush list of surprises.

"Hundreds of onlookers are gathering here for the formal groundbreaking ceremony of Spaceport America, the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport.

"The June 19 event is being billed as a major step in the history and future of spaceflight – with Spaceport America serving as a launch pad for a new era of commercial space, including the boosting of public space travel to the suborbital heights...."

That picture is a look at how Spaceport America's passenger terminal will look. That's a few years off. On the other hand, the spaceport itself has been in operation for some time.

"...Lockheed Martin Space Systems near Denver, Colorado has already been testing new launch and recovery technologies within the grounds of Spaceport America.

" 'I see a paradigm shift...when we create this low-cost access to space. These are brand new tools that the U.S. government did not have to fund,' [New Mexico Spaceport Authority Executive Director Steve] Landeene emphasized...."

This article outlines what was planed for the groundbreaking ceremony. It's also a pretty good overview of what Spaceport America is, and what its developers plan to make it into.

More about Spaceport America at http://www.spaceportamerica.com/.

Related posts:

• "Doing Something for a Much Larger Reason"
  (December 22, 2008)
• "Spaceport America: Still Open for Business"
  (November 6, 2008)
• "Spaceport Development Tax on Otero County Ballot"
  (November 5, 2008)
• "Spaceport America: It's Real, and Open for Business"
  (October 26, 2008)
• "Spaceports: the Blog"
  (October 26, 2008)
• "Dubai Architecture: A Photo Gallery"
  (October 25, 2008)
  • A review of a post by someone who wasn't aware that a commercial spaceport was already in operation.